Roster named for HSAAs vs. Argentina U18s

The USA Rugby Boys High School All-Americans have rotated their starting line-up again for game three of their Argentina Tour and the first international against Argentina U18s in Rio Cuarto, Argentina, 4:00 P.M. local time Wednesday.

The front row has Titi Lamositele, Steven Branham and Valdemar Lee-Lo with Siasosi Mahoni and Anthony Fotu at lock while the back row starts Niall Barry at open-side, Viliami Helu at eight and Malcolm May at six.

The half-back pairing of Michael Reid and Ben Cima, both juniors, returns while Zachary Webber and Calvin Whiting team up at center. The back three has Scott Dean at full-back and Aaron Matthews and Seth Halliman at wings.

"The 28-man squad have contributed well in the opening two games against Cordoba,” said Head Coach Salty Thompson. “The boys are getting more familiar with their roles and our expectations. We have made real progress in the past week but Argentina bring a tier one level of performance and the real test."

Both sides have agreed on 25-man rosters for the match, while Argentina will field three players returning from their recent sixth-place finish at the IRB World Junior Championship in France.

Read what some of the players had to say about the differences in the first two matches against Cordoba Academy:

Ben CimaI think our defense was good in the first game, but in the second game we stepped it up. We especially fixed the little things that were killing us in the first game like improved kickoffs – even though that’s how their only try was scored. We improved on our kick-chase and our defensive launch. We really improved on our speed coming on to the ball, as well; catching the ball at speed and attacking the line with intensity.

Viliami HeluThe huge difference was definitely our possession of the ball. We were able to keep possession, lessen our dumb mistakes like knock-ons and our defensive launches filling in spaces so they can’t break away.

Gabriel RuflinWe had more options in the lineouts with me in there, because usually it’s kind of just Malcolm and CC, but I was helping as another option so we could be more versatile.

Malcolm MayAfter the first game they brought in bigger players and thought they’d bring it to us more physically, but our forwards stuck up and we out-muscled them, which was a big difference.